It's A Penalty - The A21 Campaign

The 2014 World Cup is taking place in one of the largest countries in the world - Brazil.

Brazil is home to approximately 190 million people. Street children are a particularly vulnerable group in Brazil as they have no home, no care, and no protection. While others, despite having a family network, are sent to the streets to bring money home however they can.

The World Cup is expected to attract 600,000 foreign tourists to Brazil, as well as encourage large numbers of people to migrate to the host cities for work. As a result, the risk of minors being recruited for sexual exploitation in the commercial sex industry has heightened and is expected to increase during the World Cup. The A21 Campaign, with the IT'S A PENALTY partners, aim to stop this.

In a bid to tackle the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, IT'S A PENALTY aims to raise awareness amongst soccer fans and those traveling to Brazil for the World Cup. If anyone is caught engaging in sexual exploitation with a child, aged seventeen and under, they will face prosecution not only in Brazil but also their home country upon returning.

The World Cup will be held in Brazil June 12 to July 13, 2014. Police authorities are concerned that young girls in Brazilian cities are at risk of being trafficked. Girls as young as eleven will be groomed for prostitution and offered to tourists. This is why we are taking action now.

IT'S A PENALTY is a partnership led by The A21 Campaign, Happy Child International, and Jubilee Campaign, working in conjunction with the UK National Crime Agency whose CEOP command leads in tackling traveling child sexual offenders in the United Kingdom.

If you see something, say something. You can call 100 from a Brazilian line. The call is completely free from any local or public telephone in Brazil and operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For more information, visit the official IT'S A PENALTY website.